New role for zebrafish in human studies

May 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 20 (ANI): Zebrafish – an important animal model in disease and environmental studies – could eventually help scientists in revealing the function of a mysterious enzyme linked to the steroid cortisol, and found in the human brain, found a researcher at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

In people and other vertebrates, steroids like cortisol perform a variety of diverse duties, including regulating immune response, bone formation and brain activity.

However, too much cortisol is unhealthy. High levels of the steroid have been linked to type 2 diabetes and may impair the brain”s ability to store memories.

The human body regulates cortisol by employing an enzyme called 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-type 1 or 11beta-HSD1, which catalyzes the synthesis of cortisol in liver and fat cells.

A related enzyme known as 11 beta-HSD-type3 or 11 beta-HSD3 is expressed in the brain, though its utility remains unknown.

In new findings, Dr. Michael E. Baker has reported that 11 beta-HSD3 (but not 11 beta-HSD1) is present in zebrafish, where it appears to serve an important role in fish endocrine physiology.

This makes the fish a potentially useful analog for cortisol studies, including discovering the purpose and function of 11 beta-HSD3 in human brains, which may be an evolutionary precursor to 11 beta-HSD1.

Interestingly, Baker found that the genomes of mice and rats do not contain 11 beta-HSD3.

This means that inserting the appropriate gene for the enzyme in these animal models could provide additional avenues of investigation.

The study will be published in the latest issue of FEBS Letters. (ANI)

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Hackers can attack car control systems, warn experts

May 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 15 (ANI): A technological hazard is looming over auto industry. Scientists have warned that, in the future, hackers could be able to take over the control systems of car, disable the brakes and turn off the engine while the vehicle is moving.

Tadayoshi Kohno at the University of Washington in Seattle and Stefan Savage at the University of California, San Diego, have come up with info on the threat and the possible solution to it.

Computers help control many systems in modern vehicles, from anti-lock braking systems to the timing of ignition. Each system typically has its own dedicated computer controller, which is connected to a network that can be accessed by mechanics via a socket under the dashboard.

The experts tested two 2009 sedans of the same make and model, which they decline to name. They plugged a laptop into the control socket and used software called CarShark to send signals into the car”s networks. By sending random commands and observing the effect of each, they were able to decipher the language used by the control systems.

In tests on a disused airfield in Washington state, with the laptop plugged into a control network, the researchers were able to kill the engine and disable the brakes of a car moving at 65 kilometres per hour. They were also able to instantaneously lock the brakes.

Clearly, drivers would notice a laptop plugged into their car”s control systems. But it would be possible to achieve the same result with less obtrusive hardware that could be controlled remotely. Still more alarmingly, the researchers say they also took control of a car using wireless signals and operated it via the internet, but would not provide further details of this part of the study.

Although the attacks sound alarming, they require a high level of knowledge to carry out. “Car tuning” enthusiasts have similarly discovered how to control many of the systems the researchers compromised – although there is no evidence of anyone using these methods to malicious ends. Industry experts say they have never seen such attacks being used outside of the new experiment.

Savage says that the car industry”s attitude to system security is similar to that of the computer industry prior to the internet – which exposed computers to attack and revealed many vulnerabilities.

“This industry hasn”t had to deal with adversarial pressure, so its defences haven”t had to be that strong,” New Scientist quoted Savage as saying.

The study will be presented in a paper next week at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy in Oakland, California. (ANI)

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In the virtual world, grown men ”feel” like a young girl

May 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 14 (ANI): Men can now know how it feels like to be a woman. A new virtual-reality experiment had men wear headsets that showed them a woman”s body when they gazed down.

This technology creates an illusion of being in someone else”s skin, as a simulated world can be observed through a life-size virtual girl”s eyes.

Cognitive scientist Mel Slater of University of Barcelona and his colleagues claim that this may lead to virtual-reality games in which human players actually feel that they”ve switched places with virtual characters.

“When subjects looked down they saw a different body, suggesting that this was a powerful cue for the brain to generate the illusion that the virtual body was their own,” Discovery news quoted Slater, as saying.

The phenomenon can apparently help in future experiments on the nature of self-awareness and body consciousness.

Neuroscientist Vilayanur Ramachandran of the University of California, San Diego, said: “It”s especially compelling that such relatively simple manipulations can profoundly alter our sense of reality.”

He added that Slater”s study “is an elegant and important culmination of over a decade of experiments that demonstrate a powerful role of visual input, whether conveyed by mirrors or video, in maintaining and anchoring body image.”

For the experiment, 24 men wore stereo headphones and lightweight head-mounted devices over their eyes that allowed them to move through a virtual room.

For two minutes, volunteers explored the room, which included a standing woman stroking the shoulder of a seated girl.

Participants then stood with the virtual woman and girl. Half were assigned to continue viewing the room from their own perspective for almost seven minutes. The rest assumed the girl”s perspective, so that when looking down at themselves they would see her body.

The virtual girl moved her head either in or out of time with volunteers” own head movements. Men in both groups also felt shoulder strokes delivered in or out of sync with the virtual woman”s stroking of the girl”s shoulder.

Participants” virtual viewpoints were then lifted up toward the ceiling so the men looked down on the girl from a third-person perspective. The woman continued to stroke the girl”s shoulder, but the men felt no shoulder strokes.

Suddenly, the woman slapped the girl”s face three times.

Men who had previously taken the virtual girl”s visual perspective while receiving synchronized shoulder strokes reported having had strong feelings of being inside her skin when the slaps were delivered.

Men who had taken the girl”s perspective also displayed sharper heart-rate declines than men who had not. Alarming events typically trigger this physiological response.

More importantly, men whose heart-rate were the steepest during virtual slaps later reported having had especially strong feelings of inhabiting the girl”s body.

Also, they claimed that the woman was personally attacking them and that they faced possible physical injury. Such responses show that visual manipulations alone can induce body-swap illusions, the researchers conclude.

Slate concluded: “These devices are beginning to get better, but they”re still not at a level for consumer use.” (ANI)

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‘Nose-like’ technology may allow cellphones to map airborne toxins in real time

May 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 14 (ANI): A tiny silicon chip that works a bit like a nose may one day detect dangerous airborne chemicals and alert emergency responders through the cell phone network.

“Cell phones are everywhere people are.

“This technology could map a chemical accident as it unfolds,” said Michael Sailor, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego who heads the research effort.

In collaboration with Rhevision, Inc., a small startup company located in San Diego, Sailor”s research group at UCSD has successfully finished the first phase of development of the sensor and have begun to work on a prototype that will link to a cell phone.

The sensor- a porous flake of silicon- changes colour when it interacts with specific chemicals. By manipulating the shape of the pores, the researchers can tune individual spots on the silicon flake to respond to specific chemical traits.

“It works a little like our nose,” Sailor said. “We have a set of sensory cells that detect specific chemical properties. It”s the pattern of activation across the array of sensors that the brain recognizes as a particular smell. In the same way, the pattern of color changes across the surface of the chip will reveal the identity of the chemical.”

Their chips can already distinguish between methyl salicylate, a compound used to simulate the chemical warfare agent mustard gas, and toluene, a common additive in gasoline.

“The beauty of this technology is that the number of sensors contained in one of our arrays is determined by the pixel resolution of the cell phone camera. With the megapixel resolution found in cell phone cameras today, we can easily probe a million different spots on our silicon sensor simultaneously. So we don”t need to wire up a million individual sensors,” Sailor said. “We only need one. This greatly simplifies the manufacturing process because it allows us to piggyback on all the technology development that has gone into making cell phone cameras lighter, smaller, and cheaper.”

Fire-fighters could use this technology to detect carbon monoxide during fires and mine workers could use it to detect impending explosion in mines. (ANI)

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New study offers hope to colon cancer patients

May 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 10 (ANI): Suppressing activity of common intestinal bacteria reduces tumour growth, a new American study has found.

The study, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, has appeared in the journal Nature Medicine.

According to lead author Eyal Raz, a professor of medicine at UC San Diego, the research could portend an eventual new form of treatment for people with familial adenomatous polyposis or FAP, an inherited condition in which numerous initially benign polyps form in the large intestine, eventually transforming into malignant colon cancer.

Raz, with colleagues at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and Wonkwang University in the Republic of Korea, looked at interactions between the vast numbers of bacteria typically found in the gastrointestinal tract and the tract”s mucosal lining.

Ordinarily, the bacteria and tract establish a kind of homeostasis.

Raz said: “In a normal host, these bacteria actually serve important roles, such as supporting cell production.

“But in susceptible hosts, the presence of these bacteria turns out to be detrimental.”

Specifically, Raz and his co-authors found that mice with an engineered mutation that closely mimics FAP in humans leaves the mice notably vulnerable to inflammatory factors produced by ordinary bacterial activity.

The constant inflammation enhances expression of an oncogene called c-Myc.

Very quickly, the mice develop numerous tumours in their intestines and typically do not survive past six months of age.

In humans, FAP can be equally devastating.

It is a genetic condition in which patients at a young age begin to develop hundreds to thousands of polyps in their intestine.

By age 35, 95 percent of individuals with FAP have polyps.

The polyps start out benign, but ultimately become malignant without treatment. Current treatment essentially consists of prophylactic surgery — removal of the polyps before they turn cancerous.

Raz said: “Right now, people with FAP don”t have many options.

“They develop the cancer relatively early in life and the only treatment is surgery, often a total colectomy – the removal of the entire colon. And that still doesn”t preclude the possibility of developing tumors elsewhere in the body.”

That”s why the second part of the study was especially encouraging, Raz said.

When researchers administered a protein enzyme called extracellular signal-related kinase or ERK, it appeared to suppress intestinal turmorigenesis in the mice, causing cancer proteins to degrade more rapidly and increasing the survival time of the mice.

If the inhibiting enzyme, which is currently undergoing clinical trials elsewhere, proves to be safe and effective, researchers say it eventually could provide FAP patients with another option other than surgery.

Raz said: “This is a clear case of nature and nurture in molecular biology.

“Nature is the host, who in some cases is going to be genetically predisposed to develop certain diseases. Nurture is the environment, which in this case is bacterial activity and its effects. The mechanism for what”s happening here with these mice and tumor growth is very clear. We know what we want and need to do.” (ANI)

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Now, software that can turn blurry snaps into pics worth keeping

May 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 10 (ANI): A team of engineers has developed software that can transform blurry photographs into clear pictures.

Computer vision engineer Neel Joshi at the University of California, San Diego, and his colleagues studied home photo collections and saw that many pictures of faces were blurry.

“Precious moments were often lost due to blur induced by camera shake and poor lighting,” The New Scientist quoted him as saying.

The team then came up with software to solve that problem.

Their algorithm uses facial recognition methods like those in some photo editors to find a sharp image with a similar pose.

The pattern of colour and light in the blurry face is then tweaked to match the model photo.

The study has been published in ACM Transactions on Graphics. (ANI)

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Central, unifying characteristics of wisdom identified

May 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 8 (ANI): What exactly is wisdom? Scientists have now delved deeper to find the exact definition of what constitutes the widely treasured virtue.

In 2009, Dr. Dilip V. Jeste, and Dr. Thomas W. Meeks, both professors in the department of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego and researchers at the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging, published a paper proposing that sagacity might have a neurobiological basis.

This means that wisdom is wired.

In the current study, they go further, attempting to identify the central, unifying elements that define wisdom.

They asked a group of international experts to characterize the traits of wisdom, intelligence and spirituality – and measure how each trait is either similar to or different from the others.

“There are several major definitions of wisdom, but no single definition that is all-inclusive and embraces every important aspect of wisdom. Intelligence and spirituality share features with wisdom, but they are not the same thing. One can be intelligent, yet lack practical knowledge. Spirituality is often associated with age, like wisdom, but most researchers tend to define wisdom in secular terms, not spiritual,” said Jeste.

The research consisted of a two-part survey and a questionnaire comprised of 53 statements related to the concepts of wisdom, intelligence and spirituality.

Fifty-seven experts were identified and contacted by email— 30 responded.

Phase 1 of the survey revealed significant group differences among the concepts on 49 of 53 statements. Wisdom differed from intelligence on 46 of 49 items, and from spirituality on 31 items.

In Phase 2, the definition of wisdom was further refined by focusing upon 12 items from the Phase 1 results.

Jeste and Meeks said that most of the experts agreed that wisdom could be characterized as:
It is uniquely human.
It is a form of advanced cognitive and emotional development that is experience-driven.
It is a personal quality, albeit rare.
It can be learned, increases with age and can be measured.
It is probably not enhanced by taking medication.

The survey was conducted using the Delphi method, developed by the RAND Corporation in the 1950s and based on the principle that forecasts from a structured group of experts are more accurate than those from unstructured groups or individuals.

The paper”s authors identified 60 recognized experts on wisdom in the world, focusing upon those outside their own institutions.

The nominees were required to have at least two peer-reviewed publications on wisdom or spirituality, though the number of total publications was not the sole criterion for selection.

The survey asked participating experts to rate the relevance and importance of six statements (i.e. “The concept can be applied to human beings.”), based upon their knowledge of empirical evidence, to the concepts of intelligence, wisdom and spirituality.

The rating scale ranged from 1 (definitely not) to 9 (definitely so).

The experts were then asked to rate the importance of 47 components, such as altruism, practical life skills, sense of humour, realism, willingness to forgive others and self-esteem, to the concepts of wisdom, intelligence and spirituality.

“One survey, of course, cannot fully and completely define wisdom. The value here is that there was considerable agreement among experts that wisdom is indeed a distinct entity with a number of characteristic qualities. The data from our research should help in designing future empirical studies on wisdom,” said Jeste.

The study has been published in the June issue of The Gerontologist. (ANI)

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Sharing needles may play major role in transmission of syphilis

April 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, April 29 (ANI): A new study has discovered that female sex workers who inject drugs and share needles are at a greater danger of contracting syphilis than those who don”t.

A binational team of researchers led by University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have suggested that injection drug use may play as big a role as risky sexual behaviour in the transmission of syphilis.

It may also exacerbate the spread of both HIV and syphilis, as syphilis is frequently a co-factor for HIV infection.

Thomas L. Patterson, MD, of UCSD”s Department of Psychiatry and the Veterans Administration Health Care System, San Diego, headed the study.

It focuses on female sex workers in the U.S./Mexico border towns of Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, which are adjacent to San Diego, California and El Paso, Texas, respectively.

Female sex workers operate legally in these two cities, which lie on major drug trafficking routes.

In collaboration with Mexican researchers, UCSD investigators interviewed just over 900 female sex workers to determine their sociodemographics, condom and substance use, and male client characteristics.

These women were also tested for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

The researchers found that female sex workers who did not have HIV, but tested positive for active syphilis infection, were more likely to inject drugs, use illegal drugs before or during sex in the past month, and have U.S. clients who had higher rates of drug-using, including injection, behaviour.

“As more than two-thirds of these women have clients from the U.S., our data suggest that U.S. men seeking paid sex across the border in Mexico are at considerable risk of acquiring and transmitting syphilis and other STDs,” co-author Steffanie A. Strathdee, PhD, associate dean for Global Health Sciences and Chief of the Division of Global Public Health at UC San Diego, said.

Given the sizable overlap between female sex workers and injection drug use in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez and the consistent associations that were observed between syphilis infection and injection behaviours, STD clinics need to think about providing access to sterile syringes, and needle exchange programs should provide rapid, on-site testing for syphilis, according to Strathdee.

“We recommend that rapid testing for syphilis be more widely available in these cities, so that these female sex workers can receive immediate follow-up if they test positive,” she stated.

Like most countries, STD prevention and drug treatment programs are not well integrated in Mexico. Data from this study suggest that failure to integrate these programs could intensify the course of both HIV and syphilis epidemics.

“Because syphilis is a co-factor for HIV, when an HIV epidemic occurs among drug injection users, high rates of syphilis could be a contributing factor that promotes the HIV epidemic,” Strathdee said.

“Men who have unprotected sex with female sex workers who have syphilitic sores are much more likely to acquire HIV because the two organisms exacerbate each other,” she added.

“Our findings provide not only an important message about syphilis control, but also about HIV prevention,” said co-author Hugo Staines-Orozco, director of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences at the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez.

“Cities that have a lot of HIV among injection drug users also tend to have a lot of syphilis, as the two epidemics are linked,” he explained.

The findings have been published online April 27, 2010 in the journal Addiction. (ANI)

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American physicists locate long lost Soviet Union reflector on Moon

April 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

San Diego, Apr 27(ANI): A team of physicists, led by a University of California professor, has pinpointed the location of a long lost light reflector left on the Moon by the Soviet Union nearly 40 years ago, which many scientists had unsuccessfully searched for and never expected would be found.

The French-built laser reflector was sent aboard the unmanned Luna 17 mission, which landed on the Moon on November 17, 1970, releasing a robotic rover that roamed the lunar surface and carried the missing laser reflector.

The Soviet lander and its rover, called Lunokhod 1, were last heard from on September 14, 1971.

“No one had seen the reflector since 1971,” The American Astronomical Society quoted Tom Murphy, Associate Professor of Physics at University of California, San Diego, as saying.

Murphy said his team had occasionally looked for the Lunokhod 1 reflector over the last two years, but faced tall odds against finding it until recently.

The breakthrough came last month when the high-resolution camera on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, obtained images of the landing site, he added.

The camera team, led by Mark Robinson at Arizona State University, identified the rover as a sunlit speck on the image- miles from where Murphy and his team had been searching.

“It turns out we were searching around a position miles from the rover. We could only search one football-field-sized region at a time. The recent images from LRO, together with laser altimetry of the surface, provided coordinates within 100 meters, and then we were in business and only had to wait for time on the telescope in good observing conditions,” Murphy said.

On April 22, his team sent pulses of laser light from the 3.5 meter telescope at the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, zeroing in on the target coordinates provided by the LRO images.

Murphy, together with Russet McMillan of the Apache Point Observatory in Sunspot, NM, and UCSD Physics graduate student Eric Michelsen found the long lost Lunokhod 1 reflector and pinpointed its distance from Earth to within one centimeter.

They then made a second observation less than 30 minutes later that allowed the team to triangulate the reflector’s latitude and longitude on the Moon, in other words its exact spot on the Moon, to within 10 meters.

In the coming months, he estimates it will be possible to establish the reflector’s coordinates to better than one-centimeter precision. (ANI)

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Depressed people ‘eat more chocolate’

April 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 27 (ANI): The more clinically depressed you are, the more likely you’re to eat chocolate, concludes a new study.

The study has been published in the April 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

“A rich cultural tradition links chocolate consumption with putative mood benefits,” the authors write as background information in the article.

To reach the conclusion, Natalie Rose, M.D., of University of California, Davis, and University of California, San Diego, and colleagues examined the relationship between chocolate and mood among 931 women and men who were not using antidepressants.

Participants reported how much chocolate they consumed and most also completed a food frequency questionnaire about their overall diet. Their moods were assessed using a previously validated depression scale.

Those who screened positive for possible depression consumed an average of 8.4 servings of chocolate per month, compared with 5.4 servings per month among those not screening positive. Those whose scores were even higher, reflecting probable major depression, consumed even more chocolate—11.8 servings per month.

Findings were similar among women and men.

“Several nutrient factors that could be theorized to drive the appearance of a putative chocolate-mood association, such as caffeine, fat, carbohydrate and energy intake, bore no significant correlation with mood symptoms, suggesting relative specificity of the finding,” the authors write.

There was also no difference in the consumption of other antioxidant-rich foods—including fish, coffee, caffeine and fruits and vegetables—between the two groups.

Several explanations for the findings are possible, the authors note.

“First, depression could stimulate chocolate cravings as ”self-treatment” if chocolate confers mood benefits, as has been suggested in recent studies of rats. Second, depression may stimulate chocolate cravings for unrelated reasons, without a treatment benefit of chocolate (in our sample, if there is a ”treatment benefit,” it did not suffice to overcome the depressed mood on average). Third, from cross-sectional data the possibility that chocolate could causally contribute to depressed mood, driving the association, cannot be excluded.”

In addition, a physiological factor such as inflammation could drive both depression and chocolate cravings, or more complex relationships may exist.

For instance, the mood-elevating, craving-triggering effects of chocolate may be counteracted by ingredients that often accompany chocolate products, including artificial trans fats that inhibit omega-3 fatty acid production. (ANI)

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Source of ‘noise’ in HIV identified

April 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, April 21 (ANI): Scientists in the U.S. have discovered a molecular mechanism that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seems to utilize for generating random fluctuations called ‘noise’ in its gene expression.

The research has identified the likely source of HIV gene-expression noise and offers intriguing insight into the role of this noise in driving HIV”s fate decision between active replication and latency.

After infecting a human cell, HIV integrates into the genome and typically begins to actively replicate. However, the virus can also enter a long-lived latent state, which remains the greatest barrier to eradicating virus from the patient.

Senior study author, Dr. Leor S. Weinberger, a molecular virologist and systems biologist from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego, recently showed that noise in HIV gene-expression critically influences the viral decision to enter either active replication or latency. However, the source of the noise was not clear.

To probe the source of this inherent noise in HIV gene expression, Dr. Weinberger and colleagues exploited a technique from electrical engineering that analyzes how noise changes across different levels of expression.

The researchers examined cells carrying a single integrated copy of HIV engineered to produce a quantifiable protein, and measured HIV-1 expression noise at dozens of different viral integration sites which act as distinct genetic environments for viral gene expression.

The researchers found that HIV noise levels are substantially higher than measured in other organisms, and that HIV gene expression occurs in randomly timed bursts.

During these expression bursts, multiple copies of HIV gene products are produced that leads to the high noise levels in HIV gene expression.

The bursting model argues that during active expression HIV cycles between periods of silence and bursting and provides insight into how HIV may be activated by host signaling molecules.

“We know that noise in gene-expression can critically influence HIV”s entry to proviral latency. These new results point to transcriptional bursting as a major source of the noise,” Dr. Weinberger said

“This finding that transcriptional bursting generates an exceptionally noisy HIV promoter, noisier than almost all other measured promoters, supports the theory that latency may be fundamental to the HIV life cycle and that HIV evolved for probabilistic entry into latency,” Dr. Weinberger added.

The study has been published in the April 20th issue of the Biophysical Journal. (ANI)

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Time Lords walk among us

April 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, Apr 1 (ANI): Sci-fi fans would be thrilled to hear that Time Lords walk among us— people with a newly described condition, called Synaesthesia, experience time as a spatial construct, just like those time-travelling humanoids that can understand and perceive events throughout time and space.

Synaesthesia is the condition in which the senses are mixed, so that a sound or a number has a colour, for example. In one version, the sense of touch evokes emotions.

“In general, these individuals perceive months of the year in circular shapes, usually just as an image inside their mind”s eye,” New Scientist quoted David Brang of the department of psychology at the University of California, San Diego, as saying.

“These calendars occur in almost any possible shape, and many of the synaesthetes actually experience the calendar projected out into the real world,” he added.

One of Brang”s subjects was able to see the year as a circular ring surrounding her body.

The “ring” rotated clockwise throughout the year so that the current month was always inside her chest with the previous month right in front of her chest.

The researchers recruited 183 students and asked them to visualise the months of the year and construct this representation on a computer screen.

After four months, the students were shown a blank screen and asked to select a position for each of the months.

They were prompted with a cue month – a randomly selected month placed as a dot in the location where the student had originally placed it.

It was found that four of the 183 students were time-space synaesthetes when they placed their months in a distinct spatial array – such as a circle – that was consistent over the trials.

A second test compared how well time-space synaesthetes and ordinary humans could memorise an unfamiliar spatial calendar and reproduce it.

Time-space synaesthetes turned out to have much better recall than the time-blind majority.

Brang suspected that time-space synaesthesia happens when the neural processes underlying spatial processing are unusually active.

“This enhanced processing would generalise to other functions of spatial processing – mental rotation, map navigation, spatial manipulation,” he said.

He didn’t speculate on whether time-space synaesthetes could regenerate, or if they have two hearts: both key characteristics of Time Lords.

The study has been published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition. (ANI)

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Sleep deprivation linked to drug use in teens’ social networks

March 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 27 (ANI): Poor sleep patterns are likely to drive adolescents at the centre of social networks to use drugs, thereby increasing their vulnerability, says a study.

Principal researcher Sara C. Mednick, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the VA San Diego Healthcare System, pointed out the spread of one behaviour in social networks – in this case, poor sleep patterns – influences the spread of another behaviour, adolescent drug use.

Mednick said: “This is our first investigation of the spread of illegal drug use in social networks. We believe it is also the first study in any age population on the spread of sleep behaviours through social networks.”

Mednick and colleagues James H. Fowler, UCSD Department of Political Science and Nicholas A. Christakis, Harvard Medical School, discovered clusters of poor sleep behaviour and marijuana use that extended up to four degrees of separation in the social network.

Mednick explained: “Our behaviours are connected to each other and we need to start thinking about how one behaviour affects our lives on many levels. Therefore, when parents, schools and law enforcement want to look for ways to influence one outcome, such as drug use, our research suggests that targeting another behaviour, like sleep, may have a positive influence. They should be promoting healthy sleep habits that eliminate behaviours which interfere with sleep: take the TV out of the child”s bedroom, limit computer and phone usage to daytime and early evening hours, and promote napping.”

The study was due to be published in PLoS One. (ANI)

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Smell could play a role in origin of new bird species

March 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, March 24 (ANI): In a new study, scientists have found that two recently diverged populations of a southern California songbird produce unique odors, suggesting smell could contribute to the reproductive isolation that accompanies the origin of new bird species.

The study, of organic compounds present in the preen oils of Dark-eyed Juncos, was carried out by researchers at the Indiana University Bloomington, US.

“There’s so much we don’t know about the role of smell in bird behavior,” said biologist Danielle Whittaker, the study’s lead author.

“Differences in smell could be affecting sexual behavior, parental care and even contribute to speciation,” she said.

Led by Whittaker, a team of IU Bloomington biologists and chemists examined the chemical composition of preen oil, which is a compound birds secrete and spread around their bodies to straighten, protect and waterproof their feathers.

To analyze the odor chemistry of preen oil, the scientists isolated 19 volatile molecules that can achieve a gaseous, more sniff-friendly state.

The scientists found that each junco possesses a unique and recognizable odor profile that was stable over a two-week period and that could be used to distinguish it from other individuals.

The odor profiles of male birds differed from those of female birds, and birds” odor profiles differed depending on which population they were from.

“This is the most comprehensive study of its kind,” Whittaker said. “And as far as we know, it is the first time anyone has looked closely at these chemical compounds at the population level in any bird,” she said.

The team collected juvenile juncos from two populations, one that resides in and around the University of California San Diego campus in La Jolla, California, and another that lives in the Laguna Mountains, about 42 miles east.

After capture, the birds were transported to aviaries in Bloomington, Ind., and raised under identical environmental conditions.

The scientists used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to isolate 19 volatile compounds from the preen oils which are secreted from the birds’ uropygial glands near the base of the tail.

The researchers confirmed that individual birds sampled over time produce levels of each of the volatile compounds that remain more or less constant.

They also found gross differences between males and females, and between juncos from the UC San Diego population and birds from the mountains.

These population differences were found even though the birds were raised in identical conditions, suggesting that the odors have a genetic, rather than an environmental or developmental basis. (ANI)

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Spammers dodge botnet shutdowns

March 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, March 20 (ANI): Hi-tech criminals continue to remain a menace despite a series of strikes against them by finding other routes to send spam, say experts.

Specialists found networks of hijacked computers, or botnets, that were dealt with arrests, net access cutoffs and infiltrating command systems.

But, despite falling response rates, the efforts have fallen short in gaining complete control over the spammers.

“So as far as impact on spam goes it has been minimal,” The BBC quoted Rik Ferguson, a senior security analyst at Trend Micro, as saying.

A study by Professor Stefan Savage and colleagues at the University of California, San Diego, found that rates of spam and botnet have remained constant despite the increasing bids against these networks of hijacked home PCs.

Paul Sop, chief technology officer at security firm Prolexic, explained: “It is true that over the years spam campaigns have become less successful for certain age demographics in the USA and most of Europe, but not so much in Asia and developing countries.”

He added: “What counts is not the amount of spam being sent, but how profitable/effective the campaign is. Smaller more targeted spam campaigns, especially phishing, are more effective.”

Ferguson also pointed out: “Spam is not just about selling spurious bargains anymore…Most non-commercial spam these days is aimed solely to get you to click on a link, even out of curiosity. As soon as you click on that link, you”re infected, most likely to become yet another botnet victim, have your identity and information stolen and go on to participate, all unknowingly in the infection of further victims.” (ANI)

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Sleep deprivation linked to drug use in teens” social networks

March 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, March 20 (ANI): Poor sleep patterns are likely to drive adolescents at the centre of social networks to use drugs, thereby increasing their vulnerability, says a study.

Principal researcher Sara C. Mednick, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the VA San Diego Healthcare System, pointed out the spread of one behaviour in social networks – in this case, poor sleep patterns – influences the spread of another behaviour, adolescent drug use.

Mednick said: “This is our first investigation of the spread of illegal drug use in social networks. We believe it is also the first study in any age population on the spread of sleep behaviours through social networks.”

Mednick and colleagues James H. Fowler, UCSD Department of Political Science and Nicholas A. Christakis, Harvard Medical School, discovered clusters of poor sleep behaviour and marijuana use that extended up to four degrees of separation in the social network.

Mednick explained: “Our behaviours are connected to each other and we need to start thinking about how one behaviour affects our lives on many levels. Therefore, when parents, schools and law enforcement want to look for ways to influence one outcome, such as drug use, our research suggests that targeting another behaviour, like sleep, may have a positive influence. They should be promoting healthy sleep habits that eliminate behaviours which interfere with sleep: take the TV out of the child”s bedroom, limit computer and phone usage to daytime and early evening hours, and promote napping.”

The study was due to be published in PLoS One. (ANI)

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Cough medicine ingredient noscapine may help fight prostate cancer

March 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 20 (ANI): Cough medicine ingredient noscapine could be used as a prophylactic treatment for prostate cancer, according to a new study.

The study shows that noscapine inhibited tumor growth in mice and also limited the spread of tumors without causing any side effects.

The collaborative pre-clinical laboratory research was conducted by Dr. Israel Barken, of the Prostate Cancer Research and Education Foundation (PCREF), Moshe Rogosnitzky, of the MedInsight Research Institute and Dr. Jack Geller, of the University of California San Diego.

They concluded that noscapine administered as a preventive measure may offer significant benefits in the management of prostate cancer.

Their findings said: “Pre-treatment with noscapine confers a significant benefit compared with control in both primary tumor growth and primary tumor growth- inhibition rate and exhibits an extremely favorable tolerability profile.”

The research team is now keen to take their work further by examining the effects of noscapine – a non-addictive derivative of opium – as a prophylactic agent given to patients following prostate cancer surgery or radiation. (ANI)

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PURE Bioscience to Report Second Quarter 2010 Results on March 11

March 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Conference Call to Begin at 4:30 p.m. Eastern
SAN DIEGO–(Business Wire)–
PURE Bioscience (NASDAQ:PURE) today announced that it will report results for
the second quarter of fiscal 2010 after market close on Thursday March 11, 2010.

Michael L. Krall, President and CEO, will host a conference call on Thursday ,
March 11, 2010 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern (1:30 p.m. Pacific) to review and discuss
second quarter financial results and provide a business update.

Shareholders and other interested parties may participate in the conference call
by dialing 877-407-8033 or (International) 201 689-8033 a few minutes before the
call start time.

The call is being webcast by Vcall and can be accessed at www.purebio.com.
Investors can also access the webcast at www.InvestorCalendar.com.

The webcast will be available for replay through June 12, 2010. A replay of the
conference call will be accessible until midnight June 11, 2010 by dialing
877-660-6853 or (International) 201-612-7415, and entering the Account #: 286
and the Conference ID #: 346416.

About PURE Bioscience

PURE Bioscience develops and markets technology-based bioscience products that
provide solutions to numerous global health challenges, including Staph (MRSA).
PURE’s proprietary high efficacy/low toxicity bioscience technologies, including
its silver dihydrogen citrate-based antimicrobials, represent innovative
advances in diverse markets and lead today’s global trend toward industry and
consumer use of “green” products while providing competitive advantages in
efficacy and safety. Patented SDC is an electrolytically generated source of
stabilized ionic silver which formulates well with other compounds. As a
platform technology, SDC is distinguished from competitors in the marketplace
because of its superior efficacy, reduced toxicity and the inability of bacteria
to form a resistance to it. PURE is headquartered in El Cajon, California (San
Diego metropolitan area). Additional information on PURE is available at
www.purebio.com.

PURE Investor Contact:
Lippert/Heilshorn & Associates
Don Markley, Senior Vice President
310-691-7100
dmarkley@lhai.com
or
PURE Media Contact:
Gutenberg Communications
Michael Gallo
212-239-8594
mgallo@gutenbergpr.com

Copyright Business Wire 2010

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Cardima Appoints Dr. Peter Wong to Board of Directors

March 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Announces Additional Board Change
FREMONT, Calif.–(Business Wire)–
Cardima, Inc. (OTCBB: CADM) today announced the appointment of Dr. Peter Wong to
the Company`s board of directors, effective immediately. Cardima further
announced that Eric Chan, PhD, has resigned his position as a board member, also
effective immediately. Dr. Chan continues to serve as a consultant to the
Company.

Dr. Wong is a professor at the University of British Columbia, Faculty of
Medicine with a specialization in pediatric clinical neurophysiology. Dr. Wong
received his training in medicine from McMaster University and completed his
research fellowships at the University of California, San Diego and at
Children`s Hospital Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, in Boston.

“Dr. Wong has made numerous accomplishments throughout his distinguished
career,” said Tony Shum, Cardima`s Chairman. “Among these, he has developed
international collaborations and conducted collaborative clinical research with
a particular concentration in Asia. Through these collaborations he has
developed a wide range of long-lasting and valued clinical, academic and
professional contacts. We believe Dr. Wong`s experience in conducting
collaborative clinical research and his extensive relationships will
significantly benefit Cardima as we extend the scope of our clinical programs
around the world and initiate further clinical studies. We welcome Dr. Wong to
our board.”

Dr. Wong stated, “I am very excited to be joining the team at Cardima and taking
on the challenge of improving the treatment of atrial fibrillation. Cardima can
benefit from developing relationships with leading physicians and clinical
programs in Asia and globally, and I hope to contribute to this effort.”

Mr. Shum added, “On behalf of our board and our entire company, we thank Eric
Chan for his many contributions during his tenure on the Company`s board. We are
pleased that he continues to provide us his technical expertise on a consulting
basis.”

About Cardima

Cardima, Inc. has developed the PATHFINDER, TRACER and REVELATION® Series of
diagnostic catheters, the VUEPORT® and NAVIPORT® Series of guiding catheters,
the INTELLITEMP® Energy Management Device and the Surgical Ablation System. The
Surgical Ablation Probe is intended for ablation of cardiac tissue using radio
frequency (RF) energy during cardiac surgery. All of these Cardima devices have
received CE mark approval and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k)
clearance. The REVELATION Series of ablation catheters with the INTELLITEMP EP
Energy Management Device, developed for the treatment of atrial fibrillation
(AF), has received CE mark approval and is marketed in Europe.

PATHFINDER®, TRACER, VUEPORT®, NAVIPORT®, REVELATION® and INTELLITEMP® are
registered trademarks of Cardima, Inc.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are
subject to risks and uncertainties. Investors are referred to the full
discussion of risks and uncertainties associated with forward-looking statements
as contained in our reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission, including
our Forms 10-K and 10-Q. The Company assumes no obligation to update the
forward-looking information.

Cardima, Inc.
Richard Gaston MD, 510-354-0300

http://www.Cardima.com

or
Investor Contacts
Lippert/Heilshorn & Associates
Jody Cain, 310-691-7100
jcain@lhai.com

Copyright Business Wire 2010

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Genes controlling insulin ‘alter’ body clock

September 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Sept 18 (ANI): Scientists at University of California, San Diego have identified certain insulin-regulating genes that can also alter the timing of the body clock.

They said that the findings can lead to new approaches to treating disorders such as metabolic syndrome that can result, at least in part, from chronic disruption of the sleep-wake cycle.

“People knew that the clock regulates many different processes, but what they didn’t realize what that when you tweak those processes, it feeds back and alters the clock,” said Steve Kay, Dean of the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of California, San Diego, who led the study along with John Hogenesch of the University of Pennsylvania.

A molecular clock controls daily physiological rhythms in many types of cells, even cells grown in culture.

By engineering cultured cells to glow yellow when a particular clock gene switched on, the team made the cycle visible. They then interfered with every human gene to see which would shift the clock. They found that hundreds altered the timing.

“We just suddenly discovered 350 new genes that affect the clock that weren’t known before,” Kay said.

However, subsequent screening to confirm the genes’ effect on a second clock gene narrowed the list to 200.

Seven genes involved in insulin control also influenced the rhythms of the clock.

“What came out very strongly was this close relationship between circadian regulation and insulin signalling. There’s a reciprocal relationship between circadian dysfunction and metabolic dysfunction,” said Kay.

The researchers suggest that genetically altered mice with malfunctioning clocks become obese and develop diet-induced diabetes.Understanding this close relationship between circadian regulation and metabolic homeostasis should provide novel ways of identifying new therapies for metabolic disease,” Kay added.

The study appears in journal Cell. (ANI)

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